It’s no secret that smoking inside your home leaves a lingering odor that can become nearly impossible to remove as it builds up over time. It’s also no secret that second-hand smoke is one of the most dangerous pollutants for you, your loved ones, and your pets to breathe in – and when you smoke inside, you’re inhaling it on a constant basis.

Regardless of whether you smoke or you’re in love with someone who does, there are few things (short of quitting smoking altogether) that will have more of a positive impact on your long-term health than investing in the best air purifier for smoke that fits your budget and purification needs.

Do Air Purifiers Really Work for Smoke?

In the past, no, they didn’t. It used to be that removing smoke from the air required the purchase of an ugly, oversized smoke eater that was loud and out of place in most residential settings. Not only that, but they were really expensive too! As such, you could really only ever find them being used commercially in restaurants, bars, and bowling alleys.

More recently, some brands have been releasing air filters that they claim can remove smoke, but in reality most lower-end and entry-level models leave quite a bit to be desired. That’s because they simply don’t have the capacity, technology, or filtration media needed to properly remove gases like smoke, or even the microscopic cancer-causing contaminants that accompany it.

If you’re serious about finding a way how to get rid of smoke smell in the house, don’t waste your money on an air cleaner that markets itself on its price. Sadly, low cost is often the same as low effectiveness when it comes to air purification.

There are, however, a number of great air purifiers for smoke that are both well-reviewed and clinically tested to remove effectively all smoke, related odors, and airborne pollutants from your home.

Best Air Purifiers for Smoke

As one of the bestselling high-end air purifiers for smoke in the world, the IQAir GC Multigas is a top choice for hospitals, medical offices and laboratories, and residential buyers who demand the absolute highest level of smoke removal and air purification.

Rated to clean up to 1,200 square feet of space, this is easily one of the largest, most powerful air cleaners sold to residential buyers for normal in-home use and definitely a top air purifier for cigarette smoke.

Using an impressive 17 pounds of gas phase filter media, the GC Multigas is able to remove smoke, chemicals, harmful gases, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), formaldehyde, and other dangerous contaminants from the air with ease.

IQAir’s Triple-Seal Filter Technology uses a three-step purification process to ensure that even tiny particles down to 0.003 microns in size are trapped and prevented from being released back out into your home’s air.

Long-last filters are designed with an average life of 12 months – far longer than other high-end brands. This means less regular maintenance and fewer filter replacements are necessary.

Perfect for the mid-range buyer who needs total smoke and odor removal but doesn’t want to spend $1,000+ for a commercial-grade air cleaner, the Alen BreatheSmart confidently offers high-end performance at a price that almost anyone can afford.

Used by many buyers as a total home solution, the Alen BreatheSmart can clean up to 1,100 square feet of floor space, removing smoke and as much as 99.8% of all contaminants in your home’s air.

The BreatheSmart uses a combination of Alen’s proprietary SmartSensor and WhisperMax Technologies to deliver high-performance 0.3 micron purification while automatically adjusting the appliance’s speed based on the needs of the air quality in the room.

If you’re looking for a compact air filter for smoke for your bedroom, home office, or garage, the Blueair 203 should be your number one choice. Equipped with the same extreme-filtration technology used in some of the most powerful air purifiers on the market, the 203 delivers a ton of performance for such a small frame.

Made for smaller applications, the Blueair 203 can comfortably keep rooms up to 240 square feet in size clear of smoke, cigarette odors, and the accompanying airborne contaminants.

Considered by many industry experts to be the best air purifier for cigar smoke thanks to its widespread prominence in cigar bars and other smoke-filled establishments, the Blueair 603 is also one of the top rated air purifiers for residential users seeking a high performance cleaner.

Ideal for spacious living rooms and multi-room areas, the Blueair 603 has the power to keep up to 700 square feet clear of smelly smoke odor and dangerous cancer-causing contaminants.

Alen uses a precise combination of activated carbon, HEPA, ionizer, and electrostatic technologies in order to remove over 97% of all airborne particles and contaminants as tiny as 0.1 microns in size – two-thirds smaller than what most other smoke eaters are capable of purifying.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers certified the Blueair 603 as having the highest Clean Air Delivery Rate in its class thanks to its ability to process more than 450 cubic feet of air each minute.

Internal smoke ionizing technology ensures that smoke particles – and smoking’s harmful by-products – are filtered out for a clean, odor-free air output.

Designed to capture even the smallest airborne particles, the Rowenta PU6020 is one of the most stylish air purifiers on the market. Even more importantly, it’s effective in removing more than 97% of tobacco smoke and odors from closed-air systems like your home or professional office space.

The Rowenta PU6020 is rated to cover up to 835 square feet of floor area – enough for the largest of rooms and even some entire apartments.

The Onboard Air Quality Sensor automatically adjusts the filter fan according to the level of smoke and other contaminants present in the air.

Rated to destroy formaldehyde, a cancer-causing poison, which becomes free-floating in the air as a result of cigarette smoke.

Rest easy with the Rowenta PU6020’s Night Mode which ensures a noise-free operation while you’re trying to sleep – without sacrificing the quality of your home’s air.

Best Air Purifier for Smoke 2017?

So what is the best air purifier for smoke 2017? Well, if price is not an issue and you want to make sure that your home is completely smoke-free, the IQAir GC Multigas is the best pick. If you need to cover a larger space but can’t afford a high-end model like the Multigas, the Alen BreatheSmart is a great alternative that delivers undeniable performance. And for smaller spaces, the compact budget-priced Blueair 203can’t be beaten.

At the end of the day, every single purifier on this list will be effective in removing smoke and other dangerous particles from your home’s air supply. While some may work slightly better than others (think medical-grade purification), and there’s definitely a difference in how large of a space they can purify, each of these cleaners can be considered the best air purifier for smoke for a wide range of home and commercial needs and applications.

How Do Air Purifiers Work?

Air purification technology is nothing new. We’ve been using cloth, cotton, and other mediums for hundreds – if not thousands – of years to keep harmful particles out of our lungs. In the most basic form, a doctor’s surgical mask or the respiratory devices that firemen wear in the field are both examples of air purifiers.

Early generations of electric air purifiers used fan blades and negative pressure to suction contaminated air into the device and through a fine cloth or synthetic filter. The filter would then trap larger particles floating in the air, resulting in a much cleaner air supply being released out the other side.

Today, air purifiers can trap particles as small as 0.1 micron in size – so tiny that you’d need a high-powered microscope to even see them. And while fans are still used to move air around, any contender for the title of best air purifier for smokers will employ a variety of different ionizing and electrostatic technologies to remove not just particles, but also the gases and VOCs present in the homes of smokers, from the environment.

Do I Need an Air Purifier?

One of the most popular questions that we get from our readers is the all-to-common one-liner, “Do I need an air purifier?” At first, I’d give a detailed explanation of how big of an improvement an air cleaner can make, but after being asked this question nearly every day, I began to just give a one-line answer back:

Do you care about your health or the health or the people and animals you share your home with?

The EPA has publicly stated that the air quality inside of most homes is worse than that in even the most polluted US cities. If you don’t think that warrants investing in an air purifier, you’re dead wrong.

And if you smoke inside, your need for an air cleaner just skyrocketed. Cigarette smoke releases more than 7,000 different chemicals into the air, meaning that if you’re not using the best air purifier for smoke to keep your home clean, all of those pollutants will make their way into your clothing, your furniture, and you and your family’s lungs.